The Balkan Wars: 1912-1913 eBook

The new Turkish boundary was arranged by negotiations
between the Bulgarian and Ottoman governments.
The terminus on the Black Sea was pushed north from
Midia almost up to the southern boundary of Bulgaria.
Enos remained the terminus on the Aegean. But
the two termini were connected by a curved line which
after following the Maritza River to a point between
Sufli and Dimotika then swung in a semicircle well
beyond Adrianople to Bulgaria and the Black Sea.
Thus Bulgaria was compelled to cede back to the Asiatic
enemy not only Adrianople but the battlefields of
Kirk Kilisse, Lule Burgas, and Chorlu on which her
brave soldiers had won such magnificent victories
over the Moslems.

THE ATTITUDE OF ROUMANIA

The Treaty of Bukarest marked the predominance of
Roumania in Balkan affairs. And of course Roumania
had her own reward. She had long coveted the
northeastern corner of Bulgaria, from Turtukai on the
Danube to Baltchik on the Black Sea. And this
territory, even some miles beyond that line, Bulgaria
was now compelled to cede to her by the treaty.
It is a fertile area with a population of some 300,000
souls, many of whom are Turks.

The claim of Roumania to compensation for her neutrality
during the first Balkan war was severely criticized
by the independent press of western Europe. It
was first put forward in the London Peace Conference,
but rejected by Dr. Daneff, the Bulgarian delegate.
But the Roumanian government persisted in pressing
the claim, and the Powers finally decided to mediate,
with the result that the city of Silistria and the
immediately adjoining territory were assigned to Roumania.
Neither state was satisfied with the award and the
second Balkan war broke out before the transfer had
been effected. This gave Roumania the opportunity
to enforce her original claim, and, despite the advice
of Austria-Hungary, she used it, as we have already
seen.

The Roumanian government justifies its position in
this matter by two considerations. In the first
place, as Roumania was larger and more populous than
any of the Balkan states, the Roumanian nation could
not sit still with folded arms while Bulgaria wrested
this preeminence from her. And if Bulgaria had
not precipitated a war among the Allies, if she had
been content with annexing the portion of European
Turkey which she held under military occupation, New
Bulgaria would have contained a greater area and a
larger population than Roumania. The Roumanians
claim, accordingly, that the course they pursued was
dictated by a legitimate and vital national interest.
And, in the second place, as Greeks, Servians, and
Bulgarians based their respective claims to Macedonian
territory on the racial character of the inhabitants,
Roumania asserted that the presence of a large Roumanian
(or Vlach) population in that disputed region gave
her an equally valid claim to a share in the common
estate.